Comments on: Hired a Cleaning Service (and Personal Finance Links)

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:59:03 +0000

That seems to be a bad deal to me Mary.

By: mary

mary — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:54:24 +0000

I am starting a cleaning business in Arkansas and I am charging $20 an hour. Depending on the time they spend at your home. It seems like you’re getting a deal. :D GOOD LUCK!

By: thriftygal @ Chasing Prosperity

thriftygal @ Chasing Prosperity — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:16:47 +0000

I’ve been thinking of a cleaning service for a while now but haven’t been able to reationalize the expense yet. I can do the dusting, vaccuming, mopping, but the scrubbing of the bathroom is what I’m not good at and takes the most time. Wonder if they’d just come clean your bathroom for a cheaper fee?

Another question is: aren’t you concerned about the intrusion of privacy? or is that something you’re willing to sacrifice?

By: michele

michele — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:11:17 +0000

I guess the question is really “Is it worth it to you?” You could probably get it done cheaper. However, in any cleaning situation size of the home is only part of the equation. No matter how small a home their is always a kitchen and at least one bathroom, and no matter how large your bathroom it takes the same amount of time to scrub out a tub, clean a toilet and clean sinks.

When I was in college I cleaned houses for extra money, and I can tell you sometimes the smaller houses were harder to clean, because more often people were not home very much and did little between the times you were there, they did not clean up after themselves. Its not really how much you pay, but how attentive to the details a truly good cleaner is. Anyone can dust, run a vacuum and mop a floor. But a good cleaner does not just swish a mop around, they get down on their hands and knees, clean in the corners where a mop doesn’t reach, etc. They not only wipe the front of the Fridge but clean the top where only the tallest of people see it. They clean inside the microwave. They are especially careful and do not use cleaners that will damage your carpets, etc. They are bonded against theft and damage to your home. Charges might include travel time. My point is there are fixed costs to professional cleaning so just basing your cost on square footage isn’t really the whole picture.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:24:41 +0000

We pay $130 per month for a 3600 square foot house in the Denver area. Sounds a lot cheaper than Silicon Valley!

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:56:50 +0000

Well here’s a simple solution… move closer ;-).

By: Mrs. Money

Mrs. Money — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:52:52 +0000

I’d come clean your house for cheaper if I was close. :)

By: Cos

Cos — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:48:00 +0000

I miss my cleaning service.

I’ll back up the “the difference between coming home to a clean place is amazing” part – that’s beyond true. I’m a less anxious and less stressed person when the house is clean and all around in better spirits as a husband and daddy. When the house is wrecked things are more tense.

Totally worth it to me.

By: JM

JM — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:41:46 +0000

I’m in San Jose. Your pricing is pretty much the same as what Ive been paying. Some may be getting it for cheaper or more expensive by about $20 or so. I use to have them come around for $90 every two weeks for a 2,500 sq/ft home. Realized that the only thing that needed to be done was, deep cleaning the bathrooms, and mopping. Everything else I realized I could do myself. That is my alternative to having them come and clean “everything”. Just bathrooms and floors.

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:48:57 +0000

No cleaning service here, but we only have 289sqft, so that’s quickly done.

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:26:41 +0000

My wife and I used to pay for a cleaning service, but we decided to cut our spending and so it went by the wayside. But now that we don’t have it, we miss it and we might pick it back up.

It’s kind of tough to justify almost $200 a month, but the feeling of a freshly cleaned place is tough to quantify…

By: Erica Douglass

Erica Douglass — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:34:53 +0000

No, it’s too expensive by about $15. I can give you the name of the place I used in San Jose but I’m not sure if they would travel that far. Shop around–but make sure to find a place that’s licensed and insured.

We pay $110 every 2 weeks here in N. County San Diego, but our house is 2400 sq.ft.

By: Erin A

Erin A — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:05:05 +0000

I live in Los Gatos and we pay $70 every two weeks for a 900sf/1 bath apt. We paid the same in Philly for a larger place wtih 2 baths. Its totally a fair price and not that inflated.

I agree about it being totally worth it. When we moved my husband wasn’t working so we didn’t have one and it is SO MUCH NICER to be able to spend that money on a housekeeper. Enjoy!

By: Weston

Weston — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:56:40 +0000

I consider money spent on a cleaning service well worth it, and completely in line with my own particular simple living values.

We have a 3200 sq ft house. All 4 kids are now out of the house so we’re empty nesters. We pay b/t $70 to $90 per visit. We live in Southeast Florida.

By: Matt Clements

Matt Clements — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:25:55 +0000

We pay just over $80 every 2 weeks to clean our 2500 sq ft house in Toronto so you may be experiencing the Silicon Valley effect. To us it’s worth it since we don’t need to spend half of our weekend time cleaning the house.

By: Kyle C.

Kyle C. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:52:43 +0000

My wife and I live in the south east and we also have a cleaning service come in once every two weeks. It is great to have them come and take care of the stuff we don’t have the time to deal with, it gives us more time together and with the kids.

We pay $105 every two weeks for a 3000 sq ft home. But we aren’t anywhere near silicon valley.